


A Book, A Toad, and A Sending Crystal

by Verdigirl



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Bittersweet, Books, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Crying, Dorian Pavus is a Good Friend, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Inquisitor & Dorian Pavus Friendship, Loneliness, Pining, Post-Canon, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC, Reading, Sad Ending, Sad and Happy, Solavellan Hell, artober, artober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26789728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verdigirl/pseuds/Verdigirl
Summary: When Aranehn Lavellan receives a book from her good friend, Dorian Pavus, what starts as comfortable afternoon with a book turns into a reminder of just how much her life has changed, and how lonely it is without her beloved.Submitted as a part of the Beyond the Veil Server's Artober event, Day 3.
Relationships: Female Lavellan & Dorian Pavus, Female Lavellan/Solas, Lavellan & Dorian Pavus
Kudos: 7
Collections: Beyond the Veil's Artober Event





	A Book, A Toad, and A Sending Crystal

**Author's Note:**

> This work features my Inquisitor, Aranehn Lavellan, and a dollop of Solavellan Sadness. Submitted as part of the Beyond the Veil Server's Artober event, with the prompt 'Imperium.' 500 words maximum.

_‘My Darling Ara,_

_I’m sending you the book I mentioned in our recent conversation. It’s truly worthy of reading in one sitting; I’ve been howling for two days, reading it. Refer to page 56. I’m expecting your opinions on it forthwith._

_Your friend,_

_Dorian Pavus’_

Aranehn ran her fingers over the blue and gold cover. ‘ _All This Shit Is Weird_ , by Varric Tethras’ stared up at her in giant black letters. Intrigued, she flipped to the appropriate page and settled in for a read.

_‘… The mage wore a class of handsome sneer cultivated by a thousand years of Tevinter elitism. “The name’s Dorian,” he glared. “D-O-R-I-A-N. Spell it right, you marble-headed lump, or it’s…toad time.”’_

Aranehn laughed and nearly choked on her tea. She dug around her desk drawer—damn that she only had one hand—and found the Sending Crystal amulet, pressing down the blue stone. “Dorian,” she said between giggles. “Dorian Pavus, I need you immediately-y-y.”

A tinny cackle came through the stone. “Ara! You found page 56, I’m assuming?” Dorian asked. “At least he called me ‘handsome.’”

“Can you even turn people into toads? I thought that was made up.”

“My mother very nearly did, after an argument with my father. Almost sent a toad to the Magisterium the next morning, with little gold rings on its toes and tiny robes of state.” The image of a dressed-up toad made her giggle. She could just imagine Dorian’s grin when saying it. Her beloved’s face came to mind, but she pushed the memory away.

“W-What’s the weather like there? It’s been so cold here.” _‘And lonely,’_ she silently added, looking to her empty bed. If only Solas were there—

Such things were never to be. She _knew_ that, but her heart still foolishly hoped. Aranehn blinked her tears away, scolding herself.

“Warm and sunny for First Day this year, with nary a cloud in the sky,” Dorian was saying. 

Aranehn wished she was there with him. “Minrathous smells like incense and cinnamon, I remember you saying.”

“It smells delicious, here; I walk around perpetually hungry. Does nothing for my figure, I tell you. My robes of state are getting rather snug.” She laughed. She could just imagine Dorian in his robes, all tall and picturesque like an Orlesian statue. A majestic image of Solas sporting artfully draped silk would _not_ leave her alone.

“Tell me about them, your robes,” she said with a lump in her throat. “I want to see them.”

Aranehn closed her eyes, listening to her friend describe his clothes in meticulous detail that was very Dorian-esque. He described them so vividly, and his voice was so _clear_ over the Sending Crystal, that for a moment, Aranehn found herself back in the library in Skyhold, leaning against the bookcase with a smile on her face… not crying alone in her wintry lakeside cottage, wiping her tears away with the back of her only hand.

**Author's Note:**

> 'All This Shit is Weird' is the canon book Varric Tethras writes post-Inquisition. The passage/excerpt used is the actual transcript Cassandra Pentaghast reads during the credits of 'DA: Tresspasser.' If you haven't listened to her read it, yet, do yourself a favor and do so: it's hilarious. :)


End file.
